Blog 10: Music

My music style has changed so much over the past 5 years. When I was a senior in high school i listened to rap. For some reason, I really liked rap a lot. Everyone in my neighborhood listened to rap and I just went with the flow I guess you can say. My two favorite rappers were The Game and 50 Cent. I always turned the stereo up really loud and jammed. I always hated how rap music belittled females, but I never really noticed it till my music style started to change. After my senior year of high school i moved to Oklahoma. I started to listen to country music a little because that was the popular music to listen to, and quickly feel in love with country music. All I listen to is country music now, I can't even stand to listen to rap anymore. I can't remember the last time I listened to rap. The reason why I like country music so much is because it talks about females from a positive stand point. It talks about there inner beauty and it talks about their outer beauty but not like rap does. I feel like country represents a positive body image for women. Here is my playlist:

1. Baby Girl- Sugarland
2. Settlin- Sugarland
3. Got To Be Something More- Sugarland
4. Wishing- Sugarland
5. Summer Nights- Rascal Flatts
6. Don't You Know Your Beautiful- Kellie Pickler
7. Alright-Darius Rucker
8. Best Days Of Your Life- Kellie Pickler
9. Where I Come From- Jason Aldean
10. What Kind Of Gone- Chris Cagle

My music style has changed so much in a positive way and it has really helped me in a lot of ways. I remember my freshman year I wanted to quit school and go home but I heard the song "Baby Girl" by Sugarland and it really keep me going.

The reading is about how pop culture is becoming so "pornofied" now and people are not doing anything about it. The author explains how she understands that sex sells but the pop culture is taking it to another level and society accepts it. As females, we are being degraded but we also accept it because we do nothing about it. We just go along with it and just agree with the idea that sex does sell. Things are being taken to another level and we need to step up as females and do something about this.

Blog 9: Sexist adds

There are so many adds that belittle and humiliate women. Here are a few that really caught my eyes:
































This is a prime example of the difference between men and women in pop culture. Women in these photos are almost seen as a peace of meet, or shown in a degrading way, while men are portrayed as strong, muscular, and superior. I feel like these pictures cover every aspect of what women are portrayed as in the pop culture world as. The first image on the top left corner is a women in a bathing suit on her shoulders with her back in the air. This women like a straight up peace of meat. The second picture is talking about plastic surgery. The women is posing like she is so happy and she is holding a rock that says "i did it for me". The third image, in the middle to the left, shows a picture of almost like a barbie doll looking female. It's fake and airbrushed, but that's how women are seen as in the pop culture industry. The fourth image, in the middle to the right, shows a women in a bathing suit and it says "becoming a donor is probably the only chance you have to get inside her"; it shows this women as a sex symbol. The last picture on the bottom right to the left, shows a female posing in a wedding ring. I hate these adds because I feel like all it's trying to say is that women are only good for marriage. I feel like TV shows and movies are not openly sexist but they are sexist in the sense that they don't change the typical stereotypes of females and males. I don't really talk about this with my family, but I've definitely had a few conversations about this with my teammates.

Pop culture has not really changed the way I look at race because I feel like no matter what race you are, if your a celebrity your seen as beautiful, not for your race. I don't feel like race is a big part of pop culture for some reason. That's just my opinion!

Blog 8: Male Stereotypes

In the entertainment industry males have a few different stereotypes that are shown in films, commercials, and advertisements. Here is my list of films of films and commercials in which males are stereotyped:

1. Miller Lite Brewing Company Commercials
2. Hitch ( Movie)
3. American Pie ( Movie)
4. Old Spice Body Spray Commercials
5. Wedding Crashers ( Movie)

These are five movies and commercials that stood out to me because they stereotype men in the typical way. In the Miller Lite commercials, it shows a large African American man who is very muscular and handsome talking to this other man who doesn't have the same figure or confidence as this man and he is telling him to be "a man". These commercials try to portray a typical "mans man" type of attitude. Being tough, and being a ladies man is the way to go, and by drinking beer that is the way you'll get it done. It's like the whole attitude of being that wild child tough guy that does not want to settle down and just party and have fun. The Miller Lite commercials honestly disgust me. The Old Spice Body Spray commercials are along the same lines. It's a muscular African American man pretty much destroying things like Godzilla and showing how Old Spice gives you that manly edge. Both commercials are portraying the same thing in the sense that they are trying to show men as superior and tough. In the films American Pie, Wedding Crashers, and Hitch, all the actors were "players" before they meet great women and settled down with them. American Pie is a little bit different because it was a group of guy friends and one of the guys feel in love but the others were pretty much players and had no visions of getting married anytime soon. I felt like Hitch and Wedding Crashers were good in the sense that it starts off by showing these men who just take advantage of girls and have fun, but it ends up showing how these men fall in love and change their lives.

I don't think it's right that we stereotype men as players and party men. The fact of the matter though, is some men are and some men aren't. It's not true in every case, but I feel that entertainment industry tries to portray an image of men that makes women stereotype them. As females, we should not stereotype men, or anyone for that fact, but I think stereotyping is a natural thing and something that will always be there.

Blog 7: Eating Disorder

An eating disorder is an obsession with food and weight that harms a persons well-being. Although we all worry about our weight sometimes, people who have an eating disorder go to extremes to keep from gaining weight. There are 2 main eating disorders: anorexia nevosa and bulimia. People who suffer from anorexia are obsessed with being thin. They are afraid of gaining weight, therefore resort to not eating. People with anorexia constantly worry about calorie intake and fatty foods. Bulimia is when people eat a lot at one time and purge or use laxatives to remove the food from their systems. The entertainment industry is the reason that many young females and even males struggle with eating disorders. In the entertainment industry it is all about looking thin, even to the point where people question if you eat. Females are criticized if they are not thin enough and a large amount of pressure is put on celebrities to be thin. All these people in the entertainment industry are role models to teenagers and kids so now these kids feel like being thin is the only way to be beautiful. One example of this is celebrity Jessica Simpson; she was criticized for wearing a pair of jeans that "made her look fat". At the time, she said she wore a size 3 jeans. This women was getting talked down on for wearing a size 3 jeans, that's crazy to me. I haven't wore a size 3 jeans since I was 10 years old. Another example of this is the modeling industry. In the modeling industry you are considered a plus size model if you wear a size 5. A size 5 amongst most women would be considered a small body, certainly not plus size. The third example of this is comedian Monique; she is a plus sized women who always seems to be talking about how she is happy with her body and almost in a sense protecting herself against people that say she is plus sized. I feel like plus sized people in the entertainment industry always have to either protect themselves and say they are happy with their bodies, or almost in a sense make fun of themselves. The last example that stands out to me is famous people that lose weight due to the pressure of the business. One person that comes to mind is Nicole Richie. Richie was always a small petite female but was criticized for being fat and then she got very skinny, almost to the point where she looked anorexic.

Blog 6: Cosmetic Sugery

In today's world, cosmetic surgery is something that is not only acceptable, but very popular among females. Back in the day, cosmetic surgery was used for patients disabled by war and industrial accidents. Now days, cosmetic surgery is geared towards females that are unhappy with their bodies. Statistics show that women are overwhelmingly taking over the cosmetic industry. In my opinion, I would never get cosmetic surgery because I am a firm believer that god created all in a perfect way so we should I should never resort to cosmetic surgery. I know from a personal stand point that I would never do it, I am not saying that there aren't parts of my body that I want to look different, I'm saying that I am happy with my body and I would never go under the knife and put my life at risk so I can look different. Honestly, the whole idea that a female would put her life at risk so she can change her appearance blows me away. I don't blame it all on females though, I feel that society has a lot to do with it. Society puts so much pressure on females to be thin and beautiful that females are resorting to cosmetic surgery to feel better about themselves. In a sense, it shows that as an American society we are shallow. The situations vary, and I understand that, some people get cosmetic surgery because they need it for medical reasons, and even in some situations I think it's good that people do get cosmetic surgery to feel better about themselves, but the numbers that we are seeing are outrageous. Not all these people need these surgeries and it shouldn't be socially accepted like it is.

Blog 5: Gender and Toys

Gender and toys is a very intersting subject to me because I remember as a young girl I did not fit the stereotypes. Stereotypes for toys is that boys will play with trucks, tools, more masculine toys while girls will play with barbies, dolls, and other feminine toys. Of course, I know your thinking that is obvious and it is, but what I found intersting is toy companies also put a big emphasis on colors. There are house sets that are made in pink and blue, the pink is for the girls and the blue is for the boys. The way toys are marketed is that everything is based off of colors and gender masculinaty and feminity. I was looking at a toy advertisment in the news paper the other day and on the front page was a picture of a boy in a blue tonka truck and a girl right beside him in a pink barbie car.
A situation that really stands out to me is talking to my mother the other day about her job; she is a pre-school teacher and we often talk about her students. The other day she was telling me that she felt one of her students might have signs of being gay, and i asked her why; she started telling me that he always plays with barbies and he always wants to play house and dress up. It really startled me when she was saying that because we put such a emphasis at a young age on how children should follow the gender ideas that societs gives us. It starts at a young age that females should act feminine, and wear pink and males should be manly. I remember when I was a young girl a lot of people called me a tom boy because I would play with a baseball and tools, not barbie dolls. I never wore pink, I hated the color pink, all I wanted to do was play sports and not think about barbie dolls or the color pink. I always remember my Aunt trying to tell me to play with barbies and always getting barbies for christmas from her. Now as an adult, I am very in touch with my feminine side. I enjoy dressing up,wearing high heals, painting my nails, and wearing pink. So I don't feel that we should put such a big emphasis on toys because I played with masculine toys and I am a very feminine female.

Blog 4: Chapter 1 Pop and Circumstances

I feel like the repeated topic of this essay is talking about how pop culture degrades women. In the third wave of feminism women are trying to make strides to have equality in the world of media but from these reading I really do not feel as if females are making any strides at all. It is sad to say, but both readings offer plenty of examples of how were making strides in the wrong direction. First off, in the reading by Noami Wolf discusses pornography and how it degrades women. Wolf discusses how women have to make facial expressions and organism into a big deal because "if she wants to if she wants to look like that she has to feel like that". In other words, Wolf is saying that when a female sees this on television she feels that she has to make the same facial expressions when she is having an orgasm in order for it to feel pleasurable. Another example that Wolf talks about is women show their breasts on television like it's not a big deal, but a penis would never be shown because it is "not as naked". In other words, it's okay for a female to show her breasts because it's really not that big of a deal, but its not okay for a man to show his penis.

From the readings, i feel like beauty and body image is a function of social construction from the stand point that the mass media controls the stands of beauty. When we are talking about the mass media we are talking about television, movies, magazines, Internet, and radio and at least one form of media is available for free to every American on a daily basis. Most of the mass media is controlled by middle aged white men who set these standards of beauty which impact the lives of so many Americans. Not only does the mass media control the definition of beauty but it controls so many other standards that people have no idea about. One of the biggest surprises to me is how the reading talks about how pop culture controls people's opinion in a sense. A television show is going to be biased towards certain issues than they will show what they favor and try to get people to take their side; the mass media is so bias towards certain topics.

I think that a females beauty limits a women in a few different ways. If a females is very good looking, she has a better chance at finding a job. A females looks can carry her a long way, most people will deny that but it's true. Good looking women have better social lives, and have many more opportunities than another female. The part that gets me is that men define the definition of beauty and women have to go along with those standards.